Monsanto
takeover would be 'diabolical': environmentalists
Published: 24 May
2016 14:04 GMT+02:00
A
proposed tie-up between Bayer and Monsanto may still face numerous
hurdles but it has already inflamed opinion in Germany where most
people oppose genetically modified foods.
German chemicals and
pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, a household name thanks to its
painkiller Aspirin, said this week that it is offering $122 per share
in cash for Monsanto, or €55 billion in all.
It would be the
biggest takeover by a German group of a foreign company and would
create a new world leader in seeds, pesticides and genetically
modified (GM) crops.
But the US
agrochemical giant, Monsanto, already under fire in Europe over the
possible health risks connected to its pesticide glyphosate, has long
been a red rag to environment groups worldwide because of its work in
altering the genetic make-up of crops to make them more resistant to
disease.
"Monsanto
couldn't be more unpopular in Germany," said Anne Isakowitsch, a
Berlin-based activist for the environmentalist campaign group, Sum of
Us, who has launched a petition against the tie-up.
A combination of the
two groups would be "disastrous and diabolical," she told
AFP.
"The biggest
fear is that Bayer is seeking to buy Monsanto to inundate the
European market with GM crops."
Isakowitsch is not
alone in expressing such concerns.
A study published by
the Environment Ministry in April estimated that 76 percent of
Germans feel that the ban on GM crops is justified.
Individual members
of the Social Democrat, or SPD party, junior partner in the ruling
coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel, are critical of the tie-up.
New lobbying
heavyweight
"I am very,
very critical about the deal. Monsanto has an extremely bad
reputation in Germany in the area of genetics," said Elvira
Drobinski-Weiss, who is in charge of GM issues within the SPD.
Opposition is so
deeply ingrained that BASF, Germany's other agrochemicals giant,
moved its GM research activities to the US in 2012 and halted
development of GM seeds for the European market.
The prospect of a
tie-up between Bayer and Monsanto is therefore likely to rekindle the
whole GM debate in Germany, observers said.
"I hope it
will," said Drobinski-Weiss, who wants to harness the debate to
campaign for a nationwide ban on GM crops in Germany. Currently, it
is up to each regional state to ban them.
The new giant "would
have enormous lobbying power on both sides of the Atlantic,"
said Marco Contiero, policy advisor for agriculture and genetic
engineering at Greenpeace.
Bayer is already
under fire from environmental activists for manufacturing pesticides
that are blamed for the decline in the world's bee populations.
The European Union
has placed a moratorium on sales of those chemicals, which are
classed as neonicotinoids, since the end of 2013.
But Bayer is
contesting the ban.
Its chief executive
Werner Baumann conceded that the company would have to "decisively
address the point of reputation and challenges of Monsanto in
Europe", insisting that "our brand stands for
responsibility, transparency and openness".
'Wrong signal’
Critics also argue
that a marriage between Bayer and Monsanto would give the two
dangerous dominance in the world's agriculture sector, which is
already undergoing a wave of consolidation.
US groups Dow
Chemical and Dupont are planning to tie the knot, China's ChemChina
is taking over Swiss player Syngenta.
And a combined Bayer
and Monsanto would be the world leader in seeds and pesticides with
market shares of 29 percent and 24 percent respectively, according to
Greenpeace.
The new entity "will
decide what consumers can have on their table," because it would
be in a position to dictate to farmers "what to plant and how to
grow it," said Greenpeace's Contiero.
Bayer's plan to take
over Monsanto "sends the wrong signal for Germany and protection
of the environment," said Renate Künast, member of the
environmentalist Green party and a former agriculture minister.
Bayer "is going
in the opposite direction to current global discussion," she
told AFP.
The EU last week
failed to agree on the re-approval of the glyphosate weedkiller in
Europe amid fresh fears the product could cause cancer.
Monsanto markets
glyphosate under the brand name Roundup. And Künast suggested that
if the product becomes a Bayer brand, German politicians could even
be persuaded to drop their opposition to it.
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